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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26366731">Snow White and Rose Red</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emryslin/pseuds/asokatanos'>asokatanos (Emryslin)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Mentalist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, fairytale AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:48:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,440</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26366731</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emryslin/pseuds/asokatanos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A Mentalist fairytale AU as requested on tumblr - the tale of Snow White and Rose Red. Once upon a time, there were four children who lived in a house near the forest. The oldest was a girl whose name was Teresa.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Snow White and Rose Red</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Snow White and Rose Red is not the same story as Disney's Snow White; it's from a German tale starring two sisters. I've retold this version such that Rose Red is not Snow White's sister but rather the antagonist - one who has glowing red eyes but is otherwise indescribable. (In the original there's some vaguely antisemetic descriptions of a dwarf or goblin; I chose not to go there.) This was a real challenge to write - partially because it is SO different from the show's source material and from my usual style of writing - I hope it's still fun to read. I'm also working on another prompt (non AU) so keep a look out for that one coming soon!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Once upon a time, there were four children who lived in a town near the forest. The oldest was a girl whose name was Teresa, but she was pale like snow with hair dark as the inky woods, and so her brothers called her Snow White. She and her brothers lived with their father, who was often very sad after their mother disappeared in the deepest parts of the woods one dark winter. As the oldest of the children, Snow White often found herself looking after her brothers when their father came home late in the night. The youngest of them was but a small child when their mother was taken, a bright and rambunctious child named Tommy. Snow White endeavored to keep him safe and happy, wanting him to have the same lovely childhood she had once had when her mother had still been alive. For she was certain, in her heart, that her mother had not just disappeared - that she had been killed, in those woods. She suspected that her father had found whatever was left, and the gruesome sight had been what had affected him so afterward.</p><p></p><div>
  <p>The four children didn’t have much, but they grew up taking care of one another, often playing in the bright forest by their home. So often were they among the trees that the animals came not to fear them. The rabbit would eat leftover lettuce leaves right from their hands, the doe would graze trustfully at their sides, and the little birds warbled their songs, swaying above them in the branches.</p>
  <hr/>
</div><div>
  <p>One evening after their father too had died, the four were alone in their home. It was not long after the frosts had come, and Tommy was elbows deep in cranberry juice while his older siblings stoked the hearth and fixed dinner and tidied up. There came a knock upon the door, and Snow White startled from her seat. In another life her mother might have encouraged them to open the door quick, for she was a kind woman who always sheltered weary travelers. But in this life, Snow White and her brothers were all alone, and she was determined that they would never be preyed upon.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>And so, warily, she called out, “who knocks?”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Don’t be afraid,” a voice called back. “I will do you no harm! I saw the light of your hearth and I am half-frozen. I only want to warm myself a little beside your fire and I will be on my way.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Wariness aside, Snow White remembered and missed her mother dearly, and so unbolted the door as she would have. She opened it, expecting a poor frozen man, but instead it was a bear stretching its broad head within the door.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Tommy shrieked from his place near the kitchen, and his eldest brother gripped the poker in his hand a little tighter. Snow White made no sound, but reached for the knife at her belt and thought quickly, trying to think of a way to protect her family. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>But the bear shook his broad head, and repeated, “don’t be afraid, I will do you no harm. Please, allow me to rest and warm myself a moment.” His warm eyes settled on Snow White, beseeching. She gestured her brothers away from the bear, but finally nodded, sensing something true about him. “Lie down by the fire, you’ll warm up faster,” she told him.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The great bear have a nod of his broad head and lumbered to the hearth. His sleek fur was stiff, snow clinging to the thick strands and dripping over his forehead into his eyes. He turned to Tommy, who was the sweetest of them all and the most trusting, and he said “child, could you knock the snow out of my coat a little?”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>And so Tommy brought out a broom and set about knocking the snow away. By the by Snow White also came to lose her wariness and she sat near the bear’s head and gently brushed the snow from his shoulders, and he gave a contented rumble. Soon all four of them grew quite at home with their guest, and they shared their dinner with him as he told them stories of the forest. He had laid his broad head on the bench next to Snow White, and she kept one hand resting in the soft fur on his head even as she ate.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>He was no ordinary talking bear, and took great delight in performing little magic tricks and sleight of hand to her brothers’ intense entertainment. Snow White rather thought she had not heard such laughter in her home in several years.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Soon, the three boys were falling asleep, nodding off even as they joked with the bear, and Snow White sent them off to bed. “Stay, dear bear, and remain by the fire tonight, safe from the cold and the bad weather outside,” she told the bear, and he agreed gratefully.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The next morning, they let the door open for him as dawn sang its way over the horizon with clearer skies, and he ambled away into the forest, leaving their home a touch warmer than when he’d first arrived.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Henceforth the bear arrived every evening around the same time and sat himself by their hearth and amused the children and Snow White each night with stories and bits of magic; they got so used to him that they waited each evening to fasten the doors until their large friend had arrived.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>When spring came and all was green and blooming and not a speck of snow was in sight, the bear said one morning to Snow White, solemnity in his eyes, “I must go away, and do not know when I will return.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Snow White had thought it might be so, as she knew bears rarely spent their summers in the same way they spent their winters, but this bear had become a dear friend, and it ached to bid him goodbye. “Where must you go, dear bear?” She did not ask him to stay, as she knew he could not.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The bear gave a large rumbling sigh, and said, “I did not wish to worry you, my dear, but there is a wicked creature in the forest, Rose Red, who I must find and guard against. Some time ago, Red killed the only family I had, and I must make sure it will never happen to anyone else.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Oh, bear. I didn’t realize you were so alone. Does Red, too, seek shelter in the wintertime?”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The bear nodded his broad head. “Yes. And when the sun has warmed the earth, Red comes out to pry and steal and kill; what gets into his hands and into his caves does not ever see daylight again.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Snow White was sorry to bid him goodbye, but she unbolted the door for him and laid her hand on his head one last time. She wished she could help him, wished to find Red, but knew she could not leave her home, could not follow where her bear went and leave her family behind. As the bear hurried out, the side of his head caught against the metal of the door bolt, and a small piece of his coat was torn off. He paid it no mind, continuing on his way, but it seemed to Snow White as if she had seen gold shining through the patch, though she could not be sure as she soon lost sight of him in the trees.</p>
  <hr/>
</div><div>
  <p>Some time later, which could have been moments or perhaps months, Snow White was in the forest with the eldest of her brothers, fetching wood for the stove and fruits for the table. They came upon a big tree which lay felled in the path, and they could make out some creature struggling there, as if trapped by the trunk. He struggled like a frightened dog on a leash, moving this way and that, all the while glaring and muttering as they immediately rushed to help.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Even as Snow White and her brother worked to set him free, the creature ranted at them, cursing their slowness and their clumsy fingers. When her brother suggested going for help, the creature shook his fist at them both, anger still in his face. “Odious beings you are, unable to do anything, can’t even free me. You are already two too many! What can one more like you do, you are like senseless geese!” He snarled, angry eyes a deep red.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Don’t be impatient,” Snow White admonished, unwilling time hear her brother spoken to in such a manner. Thusly she pulled out the knife she always carried on her belt and cut the fabric that held the creature fast to the tree. She wondered who had felled the tree in the first place, as she saw the axe still laying there, but it did not look like it belonged to the creature. What had become of the lumberjack?</p>
</div><div>
  <p>As soon as the creature felt himself come free, he grabbed hold of a bag which laid previously hidden amongst the roots of the tree. It seemed wet and heavy, and dripped red, and Snow White felt it too ominous to offer further help. The creature grumbled as he walked away without thanking them: “hateful people, cutting off a piece of my fine clothes.” Turning to face them, he shouted, “ill luck to you!” And then he swung the sack upon his back and went away without a backwards glance. Snow White was left with a chill of unease and a headache, immediately unable to recall what the creature looked like. Her brother did not recall the encounter at all.</p>
  <p>When she thought back upon it later, try as she might she could not recall the nature of the trapped creature, nor what he might have looked like, only the pair of fiery red eyes that glared. </p>
</div><div>
  <hr/>
</div><div>
  <p>It happened that some time afterwards Snow White needed to go to the market in town, and her youngest brother accompanied her on her way in, intending on staying with a friend in town for the evening. As she made her way back home alone, purchases in hand, she noticed a large carrion bird circling a spot ahead, its prey hidden from her view by an outcropping of rock. The bird dove suddenly, and Snow White heard a loud, piteous cry followed by a shriek for help.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She hurried forward, only to see the same crimson eyed creature in the clutches of the vulture’s huge claws. She immediately took hold of the back of his trailing cloak as the bird took flight, pulling as hard as she could to keep them grounded. She pulled, and the bird pulled, and amidst the struggle the scarlet eyed creature cursed them both, shrieking with indignity. At last the bird gave up, releasing its hold, and flew off with a frustrated caw.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The creature landed in a heap on the ground, Snow White behind him. He righted himself quickly and pointed an accusing finger at her where she sat, still stunned. “You terrible, clumsy woman! Could you not have been more careful! You have torn my beautiful cloak so that it is now full of holes! You should be made to work the mines until your fingers fall off! Or perhaps now I will make short work of you.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>At this, the sanguine eyed creature took out a sack from behind the stone, and drew from it a wicked looking curved knife. He brandished it towards her, and Snow White was afraid.</p>
  <p>She was afraid, but she was also brave, and so she ducked behind a nearby tree, pulling her own little knife from her belt. But no sooner had she drawn it did she hear a great roar from the forest.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The creature made a sound of inevitable terror, and the roar came again. When Snow White darted out from behind her tree, she saw her dear friend the bear emerge from the forest, trotting quickly with his eyes fixed on the creature. The creature was trying to back away, only to be met with Snow White and her knife. Caught between them, the creature gave a pathetic little whine. “Spare me, bear! I will give you treasures; truly I have some hidden away! Grant me my life; I would not make a satisfying meal. Take this wicked woman instead, she is sure to be far tastier a morsel for you.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>But the bear took no heed of the creature’s words, and growled loudly before knocking the creature to its back and pressing one great paw to its throat even as it tried to claw itself free. Soon, the creature became still, and terrorized the forest no more, never again to make blooded victims out of innocents.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Snow White was relieved, and elated to see her dearest friend once more. She went to him and threw her arms around his broad head, hearing his happy rumble at her touch. But suddenly she felt the bear give a strange lurch, and she stood back to ask if he was hurt. But when she looked at him, in his place stood a man with golden hair and a smile that lit his entire face.</p>
  <p>“Snow White,” he said, and his voice was the bear’s. “This wicked creature Rose Red had cursed me when he killed my family, and I was doomed to stay forever in the guise of a bear until he drew his last breath.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Snow White,” he repeated, and his voice was like honey. “I had lost hope, for a time. I had forgotten how to be human, and I deceived you. But the truth is, I never felt more like myself than with you, my dear friend. Thank you.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Snow White had never expected such a turn of events, but knew in her heart that this man and her friend the bear truly were the same. She recalled the warmth and happiness she felt on each of the bear’s visits to her home, recalled how she treasured his friendship. He had never been an ordinary talking bear, and now she understood why. Shyly, she reached up to touch his cheek, watching in fascination as his eyes slid shut as he leaned into her hand. After a moment, her hand traveled further back to rest at the nape of his neck, fingers in his hair just the way she’d often laid her hand on the bear’s head.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>After a long moment, she spoke. “Call me Teresa,” she told him.</p>
  <p>And they did, indeed, live happily ever after.</p>
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